For the last several days there has been an absolute furor over the Obama administration's decision to require employer health insurance plans to cover birth control. Republicans went so far as to claim that the Obama administration is "at war with religion" -- and worse. The media is covering and covering and covering Republican condemnations of the Obama administration.

On Monday, Bishop Stephen E. Blaire sent a letter to members of the House of Representatives urging them to focus on the economic security of workers at year's end.

"When the economy fails to generate sufficient jobs, there is a moral obligation to help protect the life and dignity of unemployed workers and their families," Blaire wrote. "Therefore, I strongly urge you and your colleagues to find effective ways to assure continuing Unemployment Insurance and Emergency Unemployment Compensation to protect jobless workers and their families."

Compare And Contrast

Here we have two similar situations. One has the Catholic Bishops upset over an Obama administration ruling on birth control. The other has the Catholic Bishops upset over Republicans cutting unemployment benefits. Compare and contrast the furor, the corporate media coverage, the Republican statements, the conservative outrage machine, etc . . .

Dave Johnson (Redwood City, CA) is a Fellow at Campaign for America's Future, writing about American manufacturing, trade and economic/industrial policy. He is also a Senior Fellow with Renew California.

Dave has more than 20 years of technology industry experience including positions as CEO and VP of marketing. His earlier career included technical positions, including video game design at Atari and Imagic. And he was a pioneer in design and development of productivity and educational applications of personal computers. More recently he helped co-found a company developing desktop systems to validate carbon trading in the US.

For the last several days there has been an absolute furor over the Obama administration's decision to require employer health insurance plans to cover birth control. Republicans went so far as to claim that the Obama administration is "at war with religion" -- and worse. The media is covering and covering and covering Republican condemnations of the Obama administration.

On Monday, Bishop Stephen E. Blaire sent a letter to members of the House of Representatives urging them to focus on the economic security of workers at year's end.

"When the economy fails to generate sufficient jobs, there is a moral obligation to help protect the life and dignity of unemployed workers and their families," Blaire wrote. "Therefore, I strongly urge you and your colleagues to find effective ways to assure continuing Unemployment Insurance and Emergency Unemployment Compensation to protect jobless workers and their families."

Compare And Contrast

Here we have two similar situations. One has the Catholic Bishops upset over an Obama administration ruling on birth control. The other has the Catholic Bishops upset over Republicans cutting unemployment benefits. Compare and contrast the furor, the corporate media coverage, the Republican statements, the conservative outrage machine, etc . . .

Dave Johnson (Redwood City, CA) is a Fellow at Campaign for America's Future, writing about American manufacturing, trade and economic/industrial policy. He is also a Senior Fellow with Renew California.

Dave has more than 20 years of technology industry experience including positions as CEO and VP of marketing. His earlier career included technical positions, including video game design at Atari and Imagic. And he was a pioneer in design and development of productivity and educational applications of personal computers. More recently he helped co-found a company developing desktop systems to validate carbon trading in the US.